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Ride Access Pass and Disabled Access - 2024 Discussion

I'd wager that the max attendance number for red wristband is lower than yellow.

Should be a fun initial few months at least.


Edit - To add to this, if they were going to change the system which idiot thought allowing pre-books online for next year was a good idea?
 
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My best friend contacted the RAP team with a few concerns, and their answer is below;

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It is one account and pass per device, and those with more than one RAP holder in their group will be able to hire extra devices at the park if required. Assume there will be a cost attached to that though.
 
Someone at Towers needs to explain why they've allowed this to happen. They must be aware that there is a block-booking culture and they've facilitated these people who do this by opening the booking ability way too early. This is a massive company. Why are they so incompetent?
 
Bowser said:
I still suspect they’ve only released a portion of capacity and more unadvertised releases will occur over the course of next year.

Why only AT have done this of course is a very valid question.
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I wonder if it is due to alton having a large presence interms of hotels and the water park,

Thorpe has a "hotel" but it is in London and I would guess it isn't used much,
Chessington also has an actual hotel, but again they are in London and I doubt it gets usedtas much as altons,

Alton has what 5/6 hotels which are quite full during the summer and the water parks, people may plan a trip to alton with the hotels quite advanced if they want to make it part of some bigger trip, if this is the case they could only allow hotel guest to book, however I could imagine some of the backlash (people thinking alton are requiring people to pay to have a better chance at booking rap)
 
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Bowser said:
I haven't been checking regularly but the availability (or rather lack of) is still exactly the same as it was a few weeks ago. I imagine they won't release anything till next year but that's only a guess.
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The simple answer is they need to remove multiple bookings per rap 1 rap 1 booking unless you have booked for a hotel stay. I will try find the post but seen on tiktok a lady had posted bragging she has 3 children with raps and her and the husband also have them they have booked out 15 visits to towers. Can't even get 1 for my daughter until August
 
popey85 said:
I will try find the post but seen on tiktok a lady had posted bragging she has 3 children with raps and her and the husband also have them they have booked out 15 visits to towers.
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My good golly gosh, that's ridiculous! :eek:
You're right that something needs to be done about that.
 
This is why we can't have nice things.
The only option is to scrap the whole system. No one gets anything. Be sure to advertise that it is because people were abusing it. Name and shame persistent offenders. Then let nature take its course.

And queue time for all will improve as a bonus.
 
popey85 said:
The simple answer is they need to remove multiple bookings per rap 1 rap 1 booking unless you have booked for a hotel stay. I will try find the post but seen on tiktok a lady had posted bragging she has 3 children with raps and her and the husband also have them they have booked out 15 visits to towers. Can't even get 1 for my daughter until August
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Sadly, that doesn't surprise me at all. I expect that this goes on a lot.
 
I have said this before, but I think the issue is because of MAP,

If you think about it interms of time investment the amount of time it requires to get an RAP pass probably isn't enough for your average person in comparison to just buying one of the fast passes if they are doing a one off visit, however if they have MAP and since it works over a longer period of time the investment of your time becomes a better use of it in the long run.

The problem is though that unless you completely eliminate season passes or RAP I can't really see this being a problem you can solve, RAP is needed to stay as people who actually need it rely upon it to visit theme parks and season passes are a big part of merlin.

I think you see this with places like disney, where a trip is so expensive the time for getting their pass is offset by not "wasting" time in a queue.
 
flyingguitar said:
I have said this before, but I think the issue is because of MAP,

If you think about it interms of time investment the amount of time it requires to get an RAP pass probably isn't enough for your average person in comparison to just buying one of the fast passes if they are doing a one off visit, however if they have MAP and since it works over a longer period of time the investment of your time becomes a better use of it in the long run.

The problem is though that unless you completely eliminate season passes or RAP I can't really see this being a problem you can solve, RAP is needed to stay as people who actually need it rely upon it to visit theme parks and season passes are a big part of merlin.

I think you see this with places like disney, where a trip is so expensive the time for getting their pass is offset by not "wasting" time in a queue.
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Trying to get my head around the logic if this one.

MAP is too cheap, which means that more people are abusing loopholes within the RAP system.

Disney is too expensive, which means that more people are abusing loopholes within the RAP system.

Do you have locks of golden hair, @flyingguitar?
 
flyingguitar said:
I have said this before, but I think the issue is because of MAP,

If you think about it interms of time investment the amount of time it requires to get an RAP pass probably isn't enough for your average person in comparison to just buying one of the fast passes if they are doing a one off visit, however if they have MAP and since it works over a longer period of time the investment of your time becomes a better use of it in the long run.

The problem is though that unless you completely eliminate season passes or RAP I can't really see this being a problem you can solve, RAP is needed to stay as people who actually need it rely upon it to visit theme parks and season passes are a big part of merlin.

I think you see this with places like disney, where a trip is so expensive the time for getting their pass is offset by not "wasting" time in a queue.
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With the annual passes, couldn't a solution that could help be that we split allocations between Annual Passes, hotel guests, day guests and emergency so each pot will get a certain amount.

This way, it'd give opportunity for RAP users to get what they need.
 
I'd heard of groups comprising multiple RAP users collecting several times cards per day to allow them to queue for multiple rides simultaneously but using a similar trick to literally deny other people access to the parks in the first place is a news to me. Not sure if they actually intend to use all the bookings or if it's just speculative bookings but it's not a good look either way.

I am inclined to agree that the ubiquity of the MAP is a direct contributor to the issue as it has resulted in relatively small numbers of frequent visitors learning to game the system to the detriment of more occasional visitors who are now effectively locked out
 
flyingguitar said:
... completely eliminate season passes...
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There's the answer to everything you see.
Another (very selective) quote of the year contender.

Time for paid entry and pay per ride with completely accessible pathways.

Shorter queues, happier people all round.

Skinties out the park after a few hours, not clogging the place up.
 
John said:
I'd heard of groups comprising multiple RAP users collecting several times cards per day to allow them to queue for multiple rides simultaneously but using a similar trick to literally deny other people access to the parks in the first place is a news to me. Not sure if they actually intend to use all the bookings or if it's just speculative bookings but it's not a good look either way.

I am inclined to agree that the ubiquity of the MAP is a direct contributor to the issue as it has resulted in relatively small numbers of frequent visitors learning to game the system to the detriment of more occasional visitors who are now effectively locked out
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Thought at Towers they were fairly strict about replacement time cards (I.e. tough potatoes if you lost it).

Using 3 children to get 3 different RAP cards is abuse of the system plain and simple.

I know we've on our more recent visits gone with another RAP holder (another wheelchair user); however until they let us put the child in the baggage hold someone has to look after them. And Parent Swap isn't allowed in conjunction with RAP so can't do it that way either.

Currently we can't go Towers next season unless its midweek so I have to take holiday or Towers pull their finger out and sort out the mess they alone have created. 1st world problem sure but this shouldn't be the situation.
 
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